I cringe

I have added information on three Christian Brothers who were charged in relation mainly to abuse at Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John’s Newfoundland.

(1) Brother Kevin Short

In 1978 Brother Kevin Short was recycled from Mount Cashel to St. Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby BC.

In 1990 Short was convicted for molesting a 14-year-old student of St. Thomas More Collegiate.  He was sentenced to three months in prison.

In 1991 he was convicted on four charges of gross indecency and three of sexual assault related to sex abuse of boys at Mount Cashel.  He was sentenced to four years years in prison.

(2) Brother David Burton

All of these cases are disturbing, but please take time to look a little more closely at this one.

In 1983 Burton entered a guilty plea to sex abuse of a boy at Mount Cashel,  At the time he told his lawyer there were other boys whom he had molested.  His lawyer told him to deal with the one charge against him at the time and leave the others alone.

In 1993 during a police interview Burton confessed to the sex abuse of five boys at Mount Cashel.  An investigation was conducted.  Police elected not to lay charges.  The story is that several victims who were contacted did not want to proceed with charges, and one other victim, identified as G.M.  did not seem to want contact with police and the conclusion drawn was that, even though they had not spoken to him,  GM probably did not want to have charges laid.

In 1997 GM contacted police alleging abuse by Brother David Burton.

In 1999 charges were laid.

In 2000 the Supreme Court of Newfoundland ruled that to proceed with the charges wold violate Burton’s Charter rights. According to Justice O’Regan: “The circumstances leading to the decision not to prosecute may have been influenced by erroneous information, but nevertheless the decision was done without malice and to subject the applicant to further charges in these circumstances would be manifestly unjust.”

Read the media coverage on the page.  Read the courts decision her:

30 June 2000: R v Burton (Supreme Court of Newfoundland)

(3) Brother Joseph Burke

This is another one which people should take the time to read and digest. All the sex-related convictions against Brother Burke were overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Note that in so ruling Justice Sopinka of the Supreme Court wrote that a witness/”alleged” victim “D.C.” had been “serving a sentence for armed robbery” at the time he testified at the original trial,  and Sopinka referred to “the uncorroborated evidence of a chronic and convicted thief.”  This was in fact an error which was corrected by the Newfoundland Court of Appeal in its Reasons for Judgment and was brought to the attention of Burke’s lawyer.  The correction was not, however, brought to the attention of the Supreme Court of Canada.  The Supreme Court heard the case using the uncorrected reasons of the Newfoundland Court of Appeal.  The Supreme Court decided that an appropriate correction would be made by deleting reference to the conviction for robbery!

Please take time to read the media coverage on this, and read these two court documents:

21 March 1996: R v Burke 1996 (Supreme Court of Canada)

1994:   R v Burke 1994 (Supreme Court of Newfoundland – Court of Appeal)

Sometimes I literally cringe as I pull these pieces of information together.

Enough for now,

Sylvia